Green Wombat

The California Clean Tech Open startup competition has named 50 finalists, and this year companies vying for $600,000 in cash and services need to be as green as their products. Entrepreneurs will be judged, in part, on the sustainability of their business model and business practices. In other words, it’s not enough to come up with the killer enviro app, you have to be as carbon neutral as possible. To that end, the competition is providing finalists with "sustainability starter kits" to to put contestants on the green path from the get-go.  The competition is backed by such Silicon Valley heavyweights as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Google (GOOG) and SunPower (SPWR) as well as more than a dozen  venture capital firm. Other sponsors include the big three California utilities – PG&E (PCG), Southern California Edison (EIX) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE).

The California Clean Tech Open offers a look at where entrepreneurs – and the judges – think the green wave will be breaking next. This year, the contest named finalists in six categories:  Air, Water & Waste;  Energy Efficiency; Green Building; Renewables; Smart Power; and Transportation. Some of the finalists that caught Green Wombat’s eye include Friendly Cow Biogas, which is developing a methane digesters to turn cow poop into biogas; Civil Twilight, which is making streetlights that dim when the moon is full; Vertical Landscape’s system of transforming load-bearing walls of buildings to support vegetation; SolarAire, which has created a solar-powered air conditioning system; Grid Saver, whose home appliance remote control system allows utilities to manage power usage; and High Merit Thermoelectrics, which  converts waste heat from heavy truck exhaust systems to electricity to run the vehicle’s alternator, power steering pump, and air conditioner pump.